My line of work demands for corporate conservative, so that typically sways me toward closed-toe pumps, but I did sneak a few peep-toes into the mix as I deliberated what to get with the gift card.

Hubby, of course, pointed out that I already have too many shoes, and that we ought to “get something practical” instead. I had e-mailed him and my two fashionista sisters for a consultation. The e-mail exchange that ensued was quite cute, and a great representation of the family dynamics. I thought I’d share.

“That’s not how you calculate cost and value.” =) Classic Hubby-speak.

I would have proceeded to order shoes anyway, except every style I liked was out of size 6.5. Thus I deferred to Hubby.

We–or should I say he–got luggage, a set of matching roller thingies, whatever you call them. It’s for the two of us when we travel, because you know, there’s nothing cheesy at all about couples with matching luggage.

Now wait, back to the “grandma-ish style” comment from my 20-something year old sister. Grandma-ish!

Sigh. She’s right. Gone are the days of wearing Bebe and Forever 21. That is the greatest tragedy of growing up, exacerbated by my decision to pursue a career in law–I’ll never again try on different personalities with my clothes, won’t go rocker glam one day, punk another, or hip hop the next. Herehence and hereinafter, I won’t dare put on clear glass platform high heels and dye my hair bright pink. Doh! Forget the pink hair!– I now say things like “herehence and hereinafter”! Old, stuffy, and boring. I won a gift card and what do I buy? A luggage set. In gray. Seriously you don’t get more boring than that.

Sydney Dong, the designer of SD Marvel, is brilliant. Hand-woven detailing, 100% hand-stitched, and made with fine quality lambskin, cow leather or nylon, his collection exemplifies luxury. Every one of the SDM bags will resonate with the uptown girl.

I went ahead and took the liberty to post photos of my favorite SDM bags. The Purple Black Twist is a signature design with a fashion-forward je ne sais quoi to it. It’s so chic and refined. I was one click away from getting the Green Water Weave–and still have my eyes fixed on it!–except I don’t carry leather goods. =*( That’s just a personal thing though, a little private pact between my four-legged friends and me. Nevertheless, for those of you who are totally cool with genuine leather, the structured Green Water Weave would be a fantastic office tote. The two Sasa Totes above to the right are elegant and classy. The Sasa Four Star has a vintage vibe to it and the pink Sasa signature reminds me of those beloved ”ladies who lunch.” I definitely picture it on the arms of a woman with expensive taste. What a stunning, stunning bag!

SDM is based in Hong Kong, carried in Sabatina boutiques across the province, but via e-commerce, the company ships everywhere. That’s good news for those of us here in the U.S.!

Says Sydney: “I can totally tell you that I really, really, love handbags, probably even more than my wife and my mom, because I must be the first one in front of the window of the fashion shop to see if there are any new, special handbags.”

Now that’s what we call a passion and zeal for one’s profession. And once you’ve gotten your hands on an SD Marvel handbag, you’ll have a passion and zeal for Sydney!

I sat down with him (virtually, that is) for an interview on the SDM line.

Interview with Sydney Dong, of SD Marvel

Sunny: How would you describe the “SD Marvel” brand?

Sydney: I spend much time on developing a unique copyright-protected weave pattern to stand for SD Marvel. When you see this pattern, you will immediately recognize it as SD Marvel. The weave pattern is representative of the mother’s handstitched clothes to her child and the warmth of wearing handstitched clothes that a mother has made specially for her child. One of a kind, made from the heart, and invaluable. Hence, the elements comprising any SD Marvel bag is the unique woven pattern and the special feeling of warmth emanating from every bag, because every bag is painstakingly hand-crafted and custom-made per order. They’re truly a luxurious addition to any wardrobe.

Sunny: How would you describe the quintessential “SD Marvel” woman?

Sydney: The SD Marvel woman is an inspiration to others, a woman with discerning taste who won’t simply accept trends as they come, but will set them herself. She’s a leader, not a follower. She’s young or young at heart, a cosmopolitan woman with an eagerness to travel the world or experience new and different adventures. The quintessential SD Marvel woman is refined, graceful, and always kind. She has a free and gentle spirit, but she also knows exactly what she wants and that is to be unique, to stand out and to be noticed.

Sunny: Currently, which bags are your bestsellers?

Sydney: Our bestsellers right now are the Canfield Soho, the Mini-Hotdog Romance and Simpatico Classic Hobo.

Sunny: SD Marvel was at New York Fashion Week this year. Please tell us: what was your experience like?

Sydney: I was not able to make it to New York for the show, unfortunately, due to other business engagements in Hong Kong. My associates took care of the entire project for me, which went splendid. The whole experience, though, taught me a lot more about the great amount of preparation that goes into a fashion show. Hopefully I can be in personal attendance at the next SD Marvel show!

Sunny: Who are some of the designers you admire, and why do you admire them?

Sydney: Bottega Veneta & Christian Dior. These designers each have such a distinctive, special character to their work.

Sunny: What advice would you give to a woman on the hunt for her “investment handbag” or that one great goes-with-almost-everything bag?

Sydney: Materials, design, and details are personal considerations that will of course vary from woman to woman based on her style and tastes. The most important factor in deciding on your “it bag” is how it makes you feel. It’s a lot like choosing a lover. You may not be able to articulate why you love that person, but there is no denying the passion and feeling.

Finally, I’d like to add that price is not a good determining factor. An inexpensive bag from a designer you’ve never heard of might make you feel like a million bucks, so why not get it? A bag that costs thousands of dollars might utterly lack compatibility with you, so why get it just because it’s by a highly-demanded designer? You want to get a bag that will make you more confident to be who you are.
 
Sunny: What advice would you give to an aspiring fashion designer?

Sydney: Perservere–I think everybody will find success eventually, whether as an aspiring fashion designer, driver or even lawyer, as long as you keep your faith and stay focused on your interest. However, you must have confidence and believe in yourself, especially when nobody else seems to. Don’t give up too easily.

Of course, there’s also the technical aspects of any field, and you need to devote time to learn the skills of the trade. Also, find mentors. Get in touch with people who can help you achieve your goals faster. If you’re just starting off, then you’re a student, and you need to find your teachers. A mentor isn’t the only help you’ll need either. You’ll need assistants and sponsors, just like any President or CEO of any company needs a good secretary, and every budding singer needs a sponsor. So don’t ever be afraid to ask for help.

An Inspiration

Sydney has been a wonderful inspiration and mentor to me and I hope you will all support his line. SD Marvel bags look three times more expensive than they actually are. Everybody these days is throwing around the term “affordable luxury” or “artisan quality and craftsmanship for bargain prices,” but few brands live up to the promise like SD Marvel. As I mentioned earlier, his particular style is very uptown. If that describes your style too, you’re going to really appreciate Sydney’s aesthetic point of view.

SDM Links and References:

• SD Marvel | Browse the e-catalog for SDM’s full collection.
• SD Marvel Facebook Page | Add to your FB MyPages today!
• SDM Flickr Album | Luxury, luxury, luxury. Everything about SD Marvel epitomizes luxury. These photos are worth a thousand repetitions of “wow.”
• Video Footage of the SD Marvel fashion show at NYC Fashion Week 2010 | The models should have directed more attention at the handbags, since they are the feature of the show, and outfits could have been styled better to complement the bags, but the sum of the parts was still exciting.

After the mind-numbing task of creating every single frame for the [first draft of the] above animation and the [first draft of the] larger-res one that appears on the splash screen, I realized that (1) the square logo kind of resembles the Chinese character for “country,” or guo (total accident/serendipity), and (2) say I really were to run with the whole resembling-the-Chinese-character thing, my [first draft of the] animations animated the drawing of the logo in the wrong stroke order. (See Wiki on Stroke Order.)

The correct stroke order for the character guo is as follows:

In dumb-speak, only three sides of the square are drawn first, then all that interior mumbo jumbo, and then the last bottom line of the square.

My [first draft of the] animations “drew” the entire square first, then filled it in with the T and Z interior mumbo jumbo.

Shouldn’t have been a big deal, especially since I never intended the TZ logo to look like the character guo. Who cares about “the correct stroke order,” or whatever “the correct stroke order” even means? My reluctance to re-do the entire thing convinced me that I did not care.

The effort and energy it took to convince myself that I did not care started giving me anxiety attacks. No, really. So tonight, two glasses of Riesling in, I admitted that I did care. I scrapped the old animations and started over, following the stroke order depicted above, the first three sides of the square, then the interior mumbo jumbo, and then the last bottom line. Bam. Done. No, actually it did not go so fast. It took all night, and I had to stay up past my bedtime.

James, my husband, said that redoing the animations just “to get the stroke order right” was a bit OCD. Well, when you’re doing something for yourself and you know that the result of it will be a reflection of who you are, then you can’t help but be just a bit OCD about a detail like stroke order.

P.S. The above character for guo is not the way I write it, just so that is noted. My heritage is Taiwanese, and so I learned to write Traditional Chinese. The above is the Simplified Chinese way of writing guo. The Traditional character is this:

Prettier, I think, though the stroke order is essentially the same as the Simplified — left, top, right of the square, then all the interior mumbo jumbo, and then the last bottom line.

Full Disclosure: I’m not actually literate in Chinese. Doh! However, I’m trying to change that by learning the language. It’s one of my 2010 resolutions– learn Chinese.

I spent the weekend going over the numbers, calculating financial projections, and when the math started to strain my brain, I designed meself a postcard. (One of the books I’ve been reading recommended postcards as a promotional tool.)

Then I toyed around with Jasc Paint Shop Pro:

The above image gives off a very appealing mood, but it’s a tad too…suggestive, let’s say, to be consistent with the brand’s point of view. Taryn Zhang’s focus is on women in the outer sphere, not women in the inner. Otherwise I’d use the image more prominently on the TZ website; I love the photography (credits: Da Yu). Also, just in time for the holidays. It’s sort of Christmasy, with the Santa red and white poofballs.

The weekend was also spent mapping out tentative storyboards for Alpha Collection promotional videos, redesigning the embroidered labels to go inside each handbag, designing hangtags, dust bags, and discussing with the business partner, my husband, whether it’s worth it to get custom Taryn Zhang zipper heads and buttons. We decided not for the Alpha Collection, but maybe the Beta.

Sigh. Promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep… (in high school I could recite that poem by heart; dorky, huh?)

Happy Holidays!